The fallen's final tribute
by Don't-Insult-My-OTP
Summary: Natasha leaves a letter to the Avengers hidden in her cell before her execution, the avengers hear her final thoughts and say their final goodbyes, unaware that the Black Widow is always listening. what truths will be revealed? and revelations made? who truly is the Black Widow? clintasha


**Disclaimer- I do not own the avengers or anything that belongs to marvel**

 **Please read and tell me what you think!**

The garden was a silent array of black as the crowd moved through the garden silently. A collection of plastic chairs had been erected in the green grass surrounding the mahogany coffin.

Beside the sleek wooden casket a frame had been propped up, the picture within it was that of a beautiful woman.

She had fiery red hair that reached her waist and vibrant green eyes lined with black eyelashes. She had porcelain skin and a beautiful face.

The face of Natasha Romanoff

The front seats where slowly filled by the worst of the grief stricken, the Avengers. Pepper gripped Tony's arm as tears made their own tracks unstopped down their anguished faces unchecked.

Tony pulled out a small metal flask from within his jacket and threw back his head.

"You couldn't lay off the drink for one day? On this day?" Steve growled, he cut a sharp figure in a black suit but his face was lined with traces of past tears.

"Especially this day," he answered, taking another sip.

"Tony show some respect," Steve clenched his fists, before he could say anything else Bruce intervened.

"Guys, not here," his dark hair was ruffled and he looked as if he was desperately trying to keep calm. Thor wandered over, looking incredibly uncomfortable imprisoned in the black suit and white shirt he loathed. Jane gripped his hand,

"I agree, we must show our fallen comrade the respect she has earned," he chocked slightly as he reached the phrase "fallen"

Jane hiccupped.

They all turned in unison to the spot beside the casket where a depressing array of crisp white roses flourished morbidly. Beside them stood someone who looked so alone, so lost that words could not describe the agony and torment in his own tear streaked gaze.

Clint.

His hands shook as he gently caressed a stark white petal. He hadn't said a word since Natasha had been killed, had been executed.

She had left each of them a letter; they had been discovered stashed in her cell. There had been another letter, a final letter.

Addressed to her team,

None of them had opened it, none of them had dared.

It was to be read at her funeral, her last words.

That was what she had been like, she had to have the last say.

It was to read by Fury, the last segment of the ceremony. The last words of the Black Widow

Each Avenger took their seat in the front row as the ceremony dragged by painstakingly slow. Agents spoke of the bravery of The Black Widow, of Agent Romanoff.

Fury stood up gripping a white envelope; he took his spot directly at the front of the crowd.

"Before Agent Romanoff was taken to her execution she wrote her final words on a scrap of paper hidden in her cell. This particular paper holds those words and is addressed to her team with instructions to read it at her funeral." He unfolded the paper with trembling hands.

Clint looked down at his hands as Fury began to read.

"To my team and my family, I have never been one for tear felt goodbyes and heartbreaking farewells but I couldn't leave without a final word.

I have spent the majority of my life surrounded by my enemies; it has been a privilege and an honour to serve you: my brothers and my friends. I idolise and envy all of you not just for your skills but your hearts, honesty and innocence.

This is not an apology for my death because I am not sorry to finally let the Black Widow go, let my past fade into blood stained pages of the history books. It won't be long until the Black Widow is a name once feared, then a memory, a myth then a legend.

I have not always been the person you knew.

I wish I could say that I was but this is the unhappy truth.

I have not always been the hero you see me as.

I was once the reverse.

I was the very evil that you fought.

But all of that has changed. I have changed.

Because of you. Clint saved my life but you taught me to live.

And it has been a wonderful life, but a false one.

My one regret is that I couldn't wipe out the mistakes and the blood that has defined me since I was a child. That I couldn't fix my past but no one can destroy History.

We can hide it, but eventually we must pay for it.

And that is what I am about to do as I wait in a soviet cell, as I wait for the end.

I am not afraid to die, I am afraid that you will not live in light of my death.

Please live.

Live even if I cannot.

So that brings me to my last message,

thank you and good bye.

Eternally your comrade, your friend and your sister.

Your Natasha,

P.S Love is definitely not for children," Fury folded the paper and tucked it back into his suit, and stepped down.

The Avengers did not move only watched as the sleek casket was lowered down beneath the soil beneath the shade of a beautiful oak.

To the end.

As the ceremony finished the crowd dispersed until only six remained standing at the grave.

"Never thought I'd see the day when Natasha came to an end, she is a hero and she always will be, you remember that Agent Romanoff," Fury stated gruffly, the fait glimmer of a telltale tear in his eye. He stepped away leaving only five

"Little Red, I could say something funny but you wouldn't laugh, I could say something heartfelt but you would threaten me from beyond the grave. So instead I'll say Cheers" there was a pause "and goodbye," Tony took a swig from his flask before draining the rest on to the fresh earth.

He too stepped back,

"Lady Tasha, it has been an honour to serve beside you, the truly worthy. A true soldier and a true friend," Thor bowed deeply, his piercing eyes alight with tears.

He retreated from the shade

"I am not a soldier, I am a doctor and I am a scientist. And you are a hero, an Avenger and a friend, and that is something that can never fade." Bruce rubbed his jaw unsure of what to say, "One last miracle Tasha, please, come back," Bruce ended. He shook his head and buried his hands in his pockets as he turned away from the grave.

Two remained.

"You are many things Natasha, and you are loyal and you are kind. You are a soldier, a soldier and a friend who I will stand by until the end. This Tasha, is not your end because you have left a story and a memory that will never dim, a story to be proud of, the story of an Avenger," Steve raised his hand in a final salute.

And then there was one, perhaps the most important one.

"God Nat, I don't think I can live without you here, beside me. You have asked me to live but i don't know how, not without you. You have kept me standing, kept me together, you have kept me alive. You are a Hero Nat, and there is nothing that anyone can say to change that. There is nothing that you could have done that could stop me from believing in you. and I believe that somewhere your listening so I just need you to hear me now, I love you and I always have, and always means forever. So Goddamit Nat find your way back to me because you are my life," Clint ran a shaking hand through his tousled hair as he clenched his jaw.

"I need you," he snapped. The tears where unstoppable as he turned his back on the stone grave

 _Natasha. A. Romanoff_

 _1984 – 2016_

 _An Avenger, a soldier, a friend_

 _She is free at last_

Natasha let the tears fall freely as Clint uttered his last plea. She rested her head against the withered bark of the oak. Her body shook with the denied strangled sobs that tore her apart.

"I love you too," She swallowed " Which is why I have to leave. You don't need me Clint, you need to be safe, you and everyone else," she had to let them live away from the torment that her name would bring.

She had to let them live.

 **Thank you so much for reading, if you enjoyed it follow or favourite and leave a review! If this is well received I may consider doing a sequel and carry on the story ;) so please tell me what you think in the comments**


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